Family offices are approaching real estate investment through frameworks shaped by currency crises, generational business pivots and partnerships that replace bank debt. At the Alfi Private Assets Conference on 9 November, executives described how personal history and changing capital structures are reshaping private markets strategy.

Nataliya Johnson, CEO and founder of Vasant Capital Limited, traced her investment approach to her upbringing in Soviet Ukraine. She experienced extreme inflation and currency devaluation that rendered bank account balances worthless overnight. That history informs how she views market volatility in the West. "We actually embrace volatility," Johnson said. Her guiding principle comes from her family: "Keep calm, keep cool, focus on what matters."

Johnson, a former Morgan Stanley investment banker, said her most important lessons did not come from the five universities she attended. "It's from my mama, my dad, my grandparents," she said. Her family's entrepreneurial background shapes both investment decisions and operational philosophy. Time, energy and resources are limited and must be used carefully. Structures need to serve a practical purpose.

"We don't like complications; we like sophisticated structures," Johnson said. Vasant has invested through arrangements designed around individual deals and projects, including dedicated vehicles and partnerships with other investors. The family office is now considering a fund, with Luxembourg its preferred jurisdiction. Johnson described that step as giving the investment activity the sophistication it now deserves.

At Kulczyk Investments, the evolution of family capital has taken a different form. Sebastian Bedekier, co-managing partner at Nextus Capital, described a business historically accustomed to making decisions internally and investing substantial family equity, supplemented by bank financing. Following the death of Jan Kulczyk, his son Sebastian gradually opened the investment approach to new partners and forms of capital.

One concrete example was the sale of the family's stake in a major Polish motorway around three years ago. Bedekier placed that disposal within a broader shift towards technology and venture capital, alongside the development of real estate activities. The change also concerns how investments are financed. Bedekier said the group was negotiating two joint ventures with large Western European family offices. Private debt providers and investment partners offer additional ways to act when opportunities arise.

"If you want to be fast and furious a little bit, then you need money," Bedekier said. Behind the humour was a practical point: opportunities can move faster than a bank financing process. Having partners able to respond alongside the family can make a difference. Nextus Capital's Luxembourg-based real estate fund, established last year according to Bedekier, brings that openness to outside capital into a dedicated investment structure.